But at the Cleveland Clinic, the impetus to make it a top priority goes back to 2004, when a Harvard Business School student questioned the hospital system's lack of empathy, Cleveland Clinic CEO Delos "Toby" Cosgrove wrote yesterday in a blog post.

"Dr. Cosgrove, do you teach empathy at Cleveland Clinic?" asked the student, whose father chose a more empathic hospital for surgery, despite the system's clinical reputation.

The question drove Cosgrove to restructure the doctor-centered organization into a patient-centered system by creating the Cleveland Clinic Office of Patient Experience, a "boot camp for empathy, engagement and service behaviors."

The Clinic is now finding itself among good company as more hospitals make empathy an important part of patient experience efforts and quality initiatives.

For example, Banner Health in Arizona conducts a "language of caring for physicians" program that helps strengthen the spoken and unspoken conversations among the physician, patient and family, Carla Rotering, a pulmonologist at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Phoenix, wrote in a Hospital Impact blog post last month.

"We also are recognizing that mindful empathic communication leads to a stronger connection with our patients, making our work as physicians more fulfilling and more aligned with our noble purpose," she said.

FEATURED ADVISOR

Mina Ubbing is the president and CEO of Fairfield Medical Center, a 222-bed acute care hospital in Lancaster, Ohio. She is involved in marketing, wellness and strategic planning and is a chair of the board of trustees at the Ohio Hospital Association. She previously taught health administration at Ohio University Lancaster.